"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

" What is your life?" -James 4:14 [KJV] A short day, full of evils; a span long, replete with crosses. Each revolving day brings its troubles; each fleeting moment, its sorrows. ‘Yes,’ says a soul, ‘I am a living witness of this: I am a mark for the enemy to shoot his fiery darts at; against man he daily renews his attacks, constantly buffets, and is ever busy with his subtle devices. Each morning I rise, I am brought into the field to exercise my arms; or on the stage, to conflict with my enemies. Truly, I am almost worn and wearied out. What with a sense of indwelling corruptions, the plague of my heart, the attacks of Satan, the troubles of the world, want of the sense of my Lord’s love, and the workings of unbelief;—my life is one continued scene of sorrow and distress.’  Remember, for your comfort, your life is short: your rest shall be eternal and glorious. Consider what one sweetly says, “It is the great work and difficulty, and yet duty of a christian, ...

"... Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption ." -I Corinthians 1:30 [KJV] What a sweet subject for my morning meditation is here! Who is it, my soul, is made of God to thee these precious things but Jesus? And mark how they are made so. I am a poor ignorant creature, grossly ignorant by reason of the fall. I knew not my lost estate, much less the way of recovery. Here Jesus became to me wisdom. By His illuminating the darkness of my mind, He led me to see my ruin and my misery. But this would never have brought me out of it; for though I saw my lost estate, yet still I had no consciousness by what means I could be recovered. Here again Jesus came to my aid, and taught me, that as I needed righteousness, He would be my righteousness, and undertake for me to God.  But even after this was done, I felt my soul still the subject of sin; and how to subdue a single sin I knew not. Here Jesus came again, and gave me to se...

"It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." -II Timothy 2:11, 12 [KJV] To be partakers of Christ's crown, we must be partakers of Christ's cross. Union with Him in suffering must precede union with Him in glory. This is the express testimony of the Holy Ghost: "If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together." The flesh and the world are to be crucified to us, and we to them; and this can only be by virtue of a living union with a crucified Lord. This made the apostle say, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me." And again, "But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the ...